Grand jury indicts five people

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — The 13th Judicial District grand jury has indicted several people for a variety of crimes including: failure to register as a sex offender, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery against a household member, child abuse and drug-related charges.

The grand jury returned "true bills" on the following cases, which were filed in the 13th Judicial District Clerk's office on Jan. 18.

• Johnny Apodaca, 43, aggravated battery against a household member with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and battery against a household member. The incident allegedly occurred on July 7, 2006 when Apodoca allegedly attacked a female victim with a broom handle, according to the indictment.
  
  
• Tiffany Garcia, 22, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The alleged incident occurred on Sept. 30, 2006, when Garcia allegedly used a broken bottle to attack a male, according to the indictment.
  
  
• Leonard Paul Serna, 25, failure to register as a sex offender. Between June 10 and June 19, 2006, Serna allegedly failed to register in Cibola County as a sex offender, according to the indictment.
  
  
• Travis Silver, 20, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Silver allegedly attacked another male with a broken bottle on Sept. 30, 2006. The victim is the same as in the Tiffany Garcia case, according to the indictment.
  
  
• Jackie Torrez, 18, aggravated battery against a household member, three counts of child abuse intentional (no death or great bodily harm) child abuse. On Oct. 27, 2006, Torrez allegedly caused a child's life to become endangered when he attacked the child's mother. Torrez allegedly struck the mother several times in a domestic violence incident and tried to choke her while she was holding the child, according to the indictment.

The grand jury sits on Wednesdays and considers evidence presented by the 13th Judicial District Attorney's office on cases where individuals have been arrested by local law enforcement agencies. When a grand jury decides an indictment is warranted, it votes to issue a true bill, which is another way of saying an indictment.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.